EFSA responds to the POPIA Information Regulator

As announced in the previous Newsletter, the Information Regulator published a request for comments on the appointment of Information Officers. Under POPIA each company must designation an Information Officer (IO). In the case of SMEs this is usually the CEO/owner. The Regulator published a paper of draft guidelines on the appointment of IOs for views. The deadline was 31 August. EFSA responded pointing out 4 issues of concern: (i) that the potential application of criminal proceedings against IOs could put employees off being appointed in that role; (ii) clarification if non-South African residents can be appointed as IOs; (iii) a conflict between the guideline on unique identifiers and the wording of the Act, (iv) and clarity on the roles of IO under the POPIA and PAIA for SMEs. The EFSA’s Legal and Regulatory Committee’s full submission is available on request ([email protected]).

It is expected that the Information Regulator will be publishing a series of draft regulations on the interpretation of POPIA during the next months. The law will be fully implemented by July 2021.